“As the United States slowly becomes a fascist regime, it is more important now then ever that we remember Anne Frank and her story.”
So begins Director Elle Winchester’s bold and brave program notes for Playcrafters Barn Theatre’s current production of The Diary of Anne Frank by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, newly adapted by Wendy Kesselman.
In case you are not familiar with it, this is the retelling – via the diary of the young Anne – of two Jewish families in Amsterdam, the Franks and the Van Daans, who desperately try to escape Adolph Hitler’s “final solution.” They are later joined by a Jewish dentist (Mr. Dussel). Eight people are cramped into a hiding space in the attic of a factory where they must maintain absolute silence during the day to avoid detection by any possible Nazi collaborators among the workers below. They are aided by two sympathizers who smuggle in supplies. They live like this for two years until they are betrayed by one of those workers and are shipped off to concentration camps by the Gestapo. Only Anne’s father survives. Anne died at Bergen-Belsen sometime in February 1945 at the age of 15, presumably from typhus. The camp was liberated by the British on April 15th that year.
Although it has been decades since I read the book of the same name this excellent adaptation felt like a familiar walk down a dark alley to a recurring nightmare that absolutely demands to be retold. To ignore it will only lead to devastating consequences.
The set design by Jaina Gliva and Chris Sambdman is a silent but dominant character in this show. Mustard yellow walls are adorned with actual excerpts from Anne’s diary and the multi-level rooms in the proscenium area emphasize the cramped quarters. Also, Winchester’s decision to have the actors remain on stage during the intermission silently reinforces their incapability to leave their stifling quarters.
Taking on the titular role of Anne is the petite Emma Terronez whose childlike voice allows her to convincingly play much younger roles than what I assume is her biological age. She genuinely captures the guileless naiveté of a budding teen. Playing Otto Frank, the lone survivor of this tragedy, is Esteban Lopez, a gifted actor who delivers a passionate heart wrenching closing scene but it was just a bit of a stretch to accept him as Anne’s father due more to his youth and the anachronistic length of his hair than his ethnicity. Strong performances were also brought in by Victor Angelo and Jonna Hicks-Bird (no relation to me) as Mr. and Mrs. Van Daan and Keegan Walker as Mr. Dussel, whose slightly quirky portrayal added a bit of comic relief from this heavy topic.
In general I harp once more that several members of the cast need to be aware of their projection – by that I mean their lack of projection. I lost a lot of the dialog from both some of the principals and supporting characters because I simply could not hear the lines even sitting in the front row. The Diary of Anne Frank continues at Playcrafters Barn Theatre, 4950 35th Avenue in Moline, Friday and Saturday, August 8 and 9 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, August 10 at 3:00 p.m.
I’m Chris Hicks…break a leg.